Generalized Euler and Runge-Kutta methods for solving classes of fractional ordinary differential equations

Abstract

A third-order fractional ordinary differential equation (FrODE) is very important in the mathematical modelling of physical problems. Generally, the third-order ODE is solved by converting the differential equation to a system of first-order ODEs. However, it is a lot more efficient in terms of accuracy, a number of function evaluations as well as computational time if the problem can be solved directly using numerical methods. In this paper, we are focused on the derivation of the direct numerical methods which are one, two and three-stage methods for solving third-order FrODEs. The RKD methods with two- and three stages for solving third-order ODEs are adapted for solving special third-order FrDEs. Numerical examples have been evaluated to show the effectiveness of the new methods compared with the analytical method. Numerical experiments are carried out to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed methods. Applications of proposed methods are also presented which yield impressive results for the proposed and modified methods. The numerical solutions of the test problems using proposed methods agree well with the analytical solutions. From the numerical results obtained using proposed methods, we can conclude that the proposed methods in which derived or modified in this paper are very efficient.